Toad in the Hole

As it's spring break time, Jon has started cooking exciting things again. This recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay's cookbook . It always makes us nostalgic to have some yummy British food. We'd never made it before, but it turns out it is so ridiculously easy, it will become part of our repertoire! I suggest accompanying this meal with some delicious beer, preferably an ale.

Toad in the Hole

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil8 good quality pork sausages
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp of sea salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk

Onion gravy:
knob of butter
red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1 1/3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp English mustard
2 tbsp redcurrent jam (nb: we used strawberry jam and it was delicious)
few dashes of Worcestershire sauce.

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Coat a baking dish with the olive oil. Add sausages and toss well to coat. Bake them in the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the batter: mix flour, salt, eggs, and milk (we did this with a hand blender). Blend until smooth.
Take the sausages out of the oven and pour the batter all around them. Return to the oven and bake for another 30 minutes until the batter has risen and is golden brown.
Meanwhile, make the gravy. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onions with some salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are soft and translucent. Add the flour and stir for another couple of minutes. Gradually stir in the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the mustard, jam, and Worcestershire sauce to taste. Simmer until the gravy has thickened to a light coating consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
When ready, remove the toad in the hole from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving, with the onion gravy. Enjoy!

Simple chicken marinade for grilled chicken.

Today I made my roomies some Chicken Caesar Salad. Salad dressings are not my forte so I just bought the Dole Ultimate Caesar Salad Kit (perhaps Ali can give you her Caesar dressing recipe) but I did make a very tasty (even my laconic room-mate remarked it was very good) grilled chicken.

You need:

- 2 chicken breasts
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- The juice of 1 small lemon
- 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I was originally going to use red wine vinegar but I couldn't open it, so the cider vinegar won out. I think it was the tastier choice in the end.)
- 1 tbsp dried rosemary
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 heaping teaspoon honey (as usual I recommend unpasteurized wild honey. It just tastes better.)

Slice the chicken into long 1/2-1 inch thick slices. Stir together the ingredients in a small deep bowl (I actually used a tupperware and occasionally shook it). Add the chicken and marinate for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The best way to do this is to grill the slices on the barbecue. Since the chicken is already sliced, it doesn't take long to cook. However as it is the middle of winter I cooked the chicken in my toaster-oven on 350 for 25 minutes.

Place the chicken strips over tossed salad and voila: Chicken Caesar Salad! This recipe served 3 not so hungry adults. You may want to increase the amount of chicken if you are hungrier.